How to Spot the Fake Policeman Travel Scam

The Fake Policeman Travel Scam is one of the most successful travel scams. Fake policeman can operate in counterfeit uniforms or plain clothes and prey on a traveler's fear of imprisonment or their desire to trust an authority figure in a foreign land. Follow these tips to spot a fake policeman and protect yourself from one.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Take a supposed policeman to a very well-lit and crowded area if he approaches you--especially at night. Fake policemen don't like to move to areas where they can be easily identified and restrained if they're up to no good.

2. Demand that people who seem to be authority figures provide identification. Fake policemen will likely not want to provide you fake identification that you can inspect closely.

3. Watch out for fake policemen that demand to see identification, passports and other information contained in a wallet. Fake policeman will grab your wallet and the documents and run once you pull them out and show it to them. A common way that fake policeman encourage you to show documents and a wallet is a charge of using counterfeit money.

4. Know that fake policeman may hang out at airports to try to make you do things that you wouldn't do normally. Fake policeman have been reported to usher travelers to scam hotels after fake bomb scares, steal personal documents and extort money from travelers.

5. Note apparent accomplices. Fake policeman often have accomplices in plain clothes. Some of these accomplices act like tourists and strike up conversations with you. A typical scenario is that a fake policeman will request a passport and a wallet from the other tourist to check for counterfeit money. When you hand over your passport and wallet, they run.

6. Realize that fake policeman can also be on the road. They may try to stop your vehicle and search your car for items that they can steal.

Tips & Warnings

• Familiarize yourself with your destination's law enforcement uniforms, cars and typical practices regarding tourists. Many tourists trust scammers who pretend to be authority figures even if they are a little bit skeptical. Terrorist activity and the confusion of being in a different country makes tourists want to comply with authority figures and makes them vulnerable to scammers.
• Take down police identification numbers and names. Call local police stations to identify the person as a part of law enforcement if you have doubts.
• Don't ever leave a site with only one officer. Wait until you can somehow confirm that the officer is legit.
• Real policeman usually don't have a reason to ask to see your jewelry and credit card information.